A teenage witness giving evidence in the High Court in Auckland says that an older boy encouraged a 13-year-old to rob the local shoe shop.
Arun Kumar Photo: NZ POLICE
But, instead of breaking into the shoe shop, the Crown says the 13-year-old and another boy, aged 14, went to the dairy down the road and killed the owner, Arun Kumar.
The 14-year-old is charged with Mr Kumar's murder and the 13-year-old is charged with manslaughter. The pair, who have name suppression, also face charges of assault with intent to rob.
The 15-year-old witness, who also has name suppression, said she was staying at a house where young people would come and go and many would stay the night.
She said the house also sold synthetic cannabis.
The girl said, in the early hours of the morning of the robbery, she woke up and overheard a conversation in the lounge where a group of young people were sleeping.
Under cross-examination from the 13-year-old's lawyer David Niven, she confirmed that an older boy was talking to Mr Niven's client.
The girl said the two were discussing how to rob the shoe shop and the older boy offered the 13-year-old something in exchange for a pair of shoes.
The girl said she tried to talk the boy out of doing the robbery but the older boy called the younger boy names and his face dropped.
She said, later, the 13-year-old woke up his 14-year-old friend and the pair left the house.
When the pair returned to the house about 20 minutes later, they were puffing as if they had done some running, she said.
She said the 14-year-old had blood up his arm and she assumed he had cut it on the shoe shop window.
He looked in shock and initially didn't talk about what had happened but later said he thought he had killed someone.
The boy said he and the 13-year-old had gone to the dairy. He had demanded money and pulled out a knife to scare the owners.
He also said he didn't want to hurt anyone but stabbed the dairy owner three times.
The girl said she cleaned the knife and hid it in her bra.
She also had to clean blood from her shoes and bag because the 14-year-old had used them during the robbery.